Shrouding Light
by obvious alias
Summary: Light is working on the computer when L begins to act very strangely. Spoilers inside, don't read if you don't want things spoiled.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Death Note or any of its characters. Etc.

Okay, so I got the idea for this at 1:20am and now it's 1:46am. So obviously, probably not amazing. I was just excited to be hit by an idea.

Hope you like it! (My first fic on here, by the way. Are you excited? I am. )

**SPOILERS-- DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED.**

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Light was typing on the computer quite quickly, immersed in his research. The quick clatter of the keys was like a type of rainfall, and it soothed Light's unusually jumpy nerves. He wasn't sure why he felt that way—nothing had happened recently, aside from getting a little less sleep and a few nightmares while he slept. It was nothing, and he treated it accordingly. His work was first and foremost in his mind. The cascading of information would have overwhelmed the average person, but luckily, Light had both a keen eye and mind and was only slightly challenged by the text.

"Hmm?" Light muttered, feeling a tug on the ever-present chain on his wrist. He didn't look to his side, he knew Ryuuzaki was there, perhaps staring at him, or even just swiveling aimlessly to gain some sort of unknown enjoyment from the chair's nauseating rotation. It seemed it was always one of those, every day, never changing. He was used to the man acting so strangely—in fact, things would probably be a lot less interesting if he were to suddenly drop the mannerisms.

Light shook his head and smiled to himself. As annoying as Ryuuzaki can be, it was hard not to like him. He was like a child, in a way. Light knew better than to say that, however, because of the astounding mind behind the personality that would fool anyone into thinking nothing was going on past those soul-consuming eyes. The eyes of his friend—and wasn't it the strangest friendship there is—seemed to have the power to search out the most private parts of you, oblivious to your internal curses at their profit. They do not find out such things as your true name or exactly how long your time on Earth is, like Shinigami eyes, but they do have the inexplicable ability to extract all of your flaws, everything you are afraid of, the thoughts you haven't even thought of thinking yet, and how to wedge the bearer of the eyes into your memory forever. Light doubted there was a single person who had ever forgotten Ryuuzaki once they met him.

He felt the tug of the chain once more, and sighed. Obviously Ryuuzaki wanted something. Perhaps he had found some new evidence? But then, he would just speak, and tell Light. There was no reason for the silence. It was more likely that he needed a break to mull the new information over with the aid of pastries and caffeine, Light decided.

"Just a moment, Ryuuzaki." Light answered the now incessantly tugging chain, saving the work he had done onto a file. The bronze-haired boy stood up and stretched, feeling the chain tug very tightly. He stumbled backward as the chain pulled, and almost lost his footing.

"It's as if you're an impatient five-year-old," he muttered to himself. It wasn't annoyed, as he thought he should feel. Moreover, it made him amused. It was surprising to think that that man was eight years older than him—even more astonishing to think that he was the world-renowned L. Light glanced behind him, catching a glimpse of ink-black hair vanishing through a door, around a corner.

"I'm coming…" Light rolled his eyes and hurried out the door, not wanting to fall on his face as the danger of the tension in the handcuffs was rising drastically.

He found himself being led to a room that held a sort of halfway kitchen—merely for convenience should Ryuuzaki have the craving for one of his ludicrous snacks while working on the case. Light knew it held very little things, so Ryuuzaki must be desperate for sugar. All it had at the moment was a half-empty vending machine, a refrigerator with milk and a few baking ingredients, and some odd foods in a pair of white cabinets, hardly what Ryuuzaki's usual diet consisted of. There weren't enough calories in the entire room to satisfy that man.

"Ryuuzaki, would you slow down?" Light grumbled, tugged into the open door. The sun was shining brightly and fresh air rand through the room (Watari must have opened the curtains and window, because no one on the team ever bothered to) and Light had to blink once or twice to get used to the ambient rays in his eyes. The glow of the computer screen and constant reading and analyzing made his eyes sensitive, and he inwardly wished he could find a solution to the annoying affliction.

A few chinks sounded to his left, and he saw that the refrigerator door was open, concealing the raid that the dark haired man was holding on the poor thing. Surely it didn't deserve the haste he was looking for whatever he was looking for.

Light shrugged inwardly, not really caring.

The pale yellow room made the sunlight seem all the more obnoxious, and Light, in disgust, turned away from the window to prepare some coffee. The easy ritual of grinding the beans and pouring water in the top soothed Light a little more than the sound of keyboard clicks, but he wasn't sure why. Thoughts like that were irrelevant, and he pushed them away, grabbing a mug from the overhead cabinet.

The mug was pale blue with indigo stripes running the length, and after a second thought, Light took out another mug. Ryuuzaki would certainly want some, once he was done ravaging the drawers of the fridge for whatever it was.

"Hey, do you like six or seven sugar cubes in your coffee?" Light asked jokingly, listening to the quiet burbling of the pot. "I was considering making you a cup of sugar, and just pouring a little coffee over it," Light added. His feeble joke was ignored, but Light didn't feel dejected. Ryuuzaki was just being Ryuuzaki.

After a few minutes of relative silence, Light sighed.

"I swear you're getting weirder by the day. The least you could do is say something." He was answered by a little clatter in the fridge, and nothing else. What could he possibly be doing that would take that long? There was hardly anything in it, at all. "The coffee's finished," Light added, pouring some into each mug. Ryuuzaki's mug had little cherries on it, and Light was sure that he had picked it out himself. It was not extraordinary, but it had a feel that was just… Ryuuzaki. Light couldn't explain it.

"Hey, Yagami-kun!" Light turned around, seeing a grinning Matsuda in the doorway. "Good morning!"

"Ah, good morning Matsuda-san. Would you like some coffee?" Light was about to reach for another cup, but Matsuda grabbed the one made for Ryuuzaki instead. Typical Matsuda, he was unintentionally inconsiderate, but made up for it with his loveable foolishness.

"Thank you, Yagami-kun. You must have read my mind, I was craving coffee." He made a face when he sniffed it, as if questioning the contents of the mug. He raised it to his lips and tasted it experimentally. "Ah!" Matsuda cried, spitting his sip out. "It's much too hot, and much too sweet. Did you put any coffee in with this sweetener, Yagami-kun?"

Light laughed, wondering how Matsuda could miss the obvious.

"It's for Ryuuzaki," he stated, smiling. "I had no idea you were going to take it."

"Eh, Ryuuzaki?" Matsuda replied, curiously more confused than usual. Surely he wasn't dim-witted enough to forget L, the head of the investigation.

"Yes," Light replied in a voice that was obviously speaking to Matsuda as if he was dumb. "He's partial to sweetness, as we both know."

"But, Yagami-kun…" Matsuda still sounded quite confused. Honestly, was it that hard to comprehend?

"Matsu—" Light was interrupted by a loud crash coming from the refrigerator. "Ryuuzaki? Are you alright?" He walked over to the open door, peering inside. As he did, a single black cat dashed out from the fridge, jumping out the window onto the ledge outside.

"Ah!" Light cried, jumping backward. Now he was confused. Where had Ryuuzaki gone? Why was this cat here? Why was Matsuda looking at him that way?

"How could he have disappeared… We're chained. Not to state the obvious, but there's no way he could have left without me knowing." Light looked around the room. It seemed the detective had indeed vanished into thin air.

"Light…" Matsuda had dropped all formalities. Light frowned. Something wasn't right. It bothered him his immense intellect had managed to skip over something. He worried how big of a something it had skipped over.

"Light, why are you looking for Ryuuzaki?"

"He should be here. He _was_ here. He was attached to my damned handcuff." Even as he said it, he knew it was wrong. He wanted to glance down at his wrist, to assure himself that Ryuuzaki is still attached. That he was still there.

He did look down, and the sight of a bare wrist struck his heart like lightning. He had felt it tug… He knew. This was a prank. Had to be a prank.

"Where is Ryuuzaki?" Light demanded, turning to Matsuda, the coffee forgotten. He didn't care about the cat that had broken open the milk carton and drank the contents. They were stupid, trivial, everyday things. Neither of them were close to the out-of-the-ordinary friend he had attached to him day and night.

"Light… Don't joke with me. You know Ryuuzaki is dead."

He did know. He had to know. He knew, and he did not want to know. He wanted the days of fights and useless arguments back. He wanted nothing more than to feel the tug on his wrist before being pulled into Ryuuzaki's foot, effectively giving him a bloody nose. He wanted awkward three-way dates and debates about evidence. He wanted shortcake and ice cream and crouching and a brilliant mind and obvious statements and an innocent soul with a tainted streak in it. He wanted his friend.

He found that his mind could give him what he wanted, and he took the opportunity.

He found that it no longer worked.

He found milk spilling onto the floor, and he found an empty room with a concerned airhead.

He received nothing he wanted.

Light was alone for the first time in months, and Light would be alone for the remainder of his years.

Light did not want his years to go on very much longer.

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Reviews? Sorry it's so poorly thrown-together. I might edit it and try to make it better when I'm not so tired.


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